Bookdwarf

Sam at Golden Rule Jones passed me the hat, so here are my answers: You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be saved? The Iliad. No doubt about it. One of my all time favorites—this epic contains too much about what it is to be human to allow it to burn. [...]

I can’t lie. I am really excited to read this book. Arturo Perez-Reverte is a favorite of my as is Dumas. Have I ever mentioned that I have a giant grey cat name d’Artagnan? (Yes, I am a dork.)

The NYT has an interesting article on Harry Matthews today. Matthews is the only American member of the Oulipo literary society. Dalkey Archive Press deserves some great press. They are spearheading the ‘Reading the World’ campaign (a works in translation display project) and keep some great authors in print. Also in the NYT, Randy Cohen [...]

Another week, another book section to pore over. This week is just so-so. A couple of interesting picks tossed in with the usual stuff. Hallie Ephron starts the ball rolling with her ‘On Crime‘ column where she discusses Oblivion by Peter Abrahams, Citizen Vince by Jess Walter, and Face Down Below the Banqueting House by [...]

The NYT has a great article today focusing on Steven Stern, who teaches at my alma mater. It discusses how he gets the greatest praise, but no one buys his books. Also mentioned are Richard Bausch, Cris Mazza, Steve Katz and David Markson. It’s the sad state of affairs in ‘literary fiction’. I know people [...]

Here’s some links to interest you: Dan Wickett interviews 9 more editors of literary journals. I am beginning to suspect Dan is a robot. How else does he do so much? Forward publishing since 1897, has a lovely story by Pearl Abraham. Read Ed, Tito, and Scott’s different takes on the William Vollman reading they [...]

From today’s book deals on Publisher’s Lunch: THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT: A Collection of Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers, selected and introduced by Elizabeth Merrick, founder of the Cupcake Reading Series and blog, created to support women writers of literary fiction, including stories by Francine Prose, Myla Goldberg, Vendela Vida, Aimee Bender, [...]

Ian McKellan, what are you thinking? The cast keeps getting more bizarre. By the way, this is my 400th post! Kind of lame for a post I know. It’s barely a full post, more like a po.

My pal Red aka Robert Birnbaum spoke with novelist Jonathan Safran Foer recently and posted the result over at the Morning News.

One flaw in the mostly flawless Divided Kingdom came at the very end. I felt like Rupert Thomson left me hanging with my palm in the air trying to get the high five. This hypnotizing, creepily dystopian novel captures your attention from the first chapter. Taking the tradition of what-might-happen-novels a step in what seems [...]

This is pretty cool. The AP gives the Litblog Co-op some good coverage including quotes from Soft Skull Press (which publishes great books) and Pantheon (division of Random House). “I’m absolutely delighted,” Soft Skull publisher Richard Nash wrote in an e-mail. “The Lit Blogs are now doing what e-mail and the Web couldn’t pull off: [...]

I finally got my galley of the new Umberto Eco today, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. It looks interesting. Sprinkled with illustrations, the story follows a rare book dealer in Milan, who suffers from memory loss. I’ve never seen these words used to describe an Eco book though: “nostalgic, funny, full of heart”. We’ll [...]

Spring finally arrived in the Northeast this past weekend (but only for a few days of course) and I think the Globe people were affected. That’s the only explanation I can think off for the how uneven the review section was on Sunday. As most know, April 1 brings the start of baseball season. The [...]

Inside Higher Ed has a nice interview with Dan Green on the Co-op.

I laughed when I saw this article about Dickens World. On the one hand, it’s sort of a tragic way to honor a great author, but on the other, little kids getting rebuked for asking for more cotton candy could be priceless. I am imagining one of those mastercard commercials too. (link stolen from Bookslut, [...]

I’ve been invited to participate in The Litblog Co-op to help select a book for Read This! Check out the nice looking website for more information about this. I’ll post information as I learn mroe about it. But I am looking forward to some good discussions on books! Maybe I should just rename the site [...]

I know I must sound like the proverbial broken record with the constant ‘I am too busy to blog’, but I at least wanted to get a quick review of the Globe‘s review pages. Luckily, April 3rd’s section has some good things in it.

Patricia Storms of Booklust has her first review up at Popmatters. It’s a great review of The Geographer’s Library, the first novel from John Fasman. I completely agree with her assessment: “And really, The Geographer’s Library isn’t a horrible book. It’s just not a great book, either, especially given Fasman’s credentials.”

Since I’ve been so busy with the move, I haven’t had a chance to update the Current Reads section to the left. I finished Francine Prose’s Blue Angel last week and was too angry to write anything about it. I hated it. But it still might be a good book, if that makes any sense. [...]

For once I actually agree with a Kakutani review. Her comments on Isiguro’s new novel mirror my own, she’s just able to articulate them. Many have seemed to object to the ‘sci-fi’ aspect of the book, but I barely thought of it as traditional sci-fi. And other’s complain about the big ‘reveal’, but I thought [...]